Project Lore

Making the trek to Ahune should be a lot easier this year.A new version of Patch 3.3.3 hit the PTR today. To be completely honest, there's not a whole lot in this build that we haven't already tipped you off to. From the new holiday boss mechanics to the class changes hinted on Facebook last night, it's all there. 

But if you still need a quick run-down of what's been modified in 11599, here are some highlights:

• Holiday bosses can now only be fought by queuing up through the Dungeon Finder system or special NPCs (likely to be found in major cities). As a result, the previous requirements for summoning these bosses has been removed.
• Death Knights' Chains of Ice now automatically inflicts Frost Fever.
• Druids' Nature's Grasp spell now has 3 charges.
• Hunters' Ferocious Inspiration is now an aura.
• Warriors' Vitality talent now buffs Stamina by 3/6/9%.

The rest of the details, including more class changes, can be found after the jump!

Dungeons & Raids
Holiday bosses (such as Ahune for the Fire Festival) will now be accessible through the Dungeon Finder.

• Players must use the Dungeon Finder or speak to special holiday NPCs in the world to queue up and access these bosses.
• Upon accepting a queue for any holiday boss, the party will be ported directly to the necessary area for confronting that boss.
• The previous summoning criteria for these bosses have been removed. Players can queue up for and fight each World Event boss as many times as they want for any standard loot that they may drop.
• All rare holiday items (such as The Horseman's Reins) will have a chance of being found in holiday-themed loot troves which will drop once for each player in the party no more than once per day, in the same manner that doing the Random Dungeon daily quest will provide a specific reward the first time it is completed in a day.

Companion Pets

• The Pet Bombling and Lil' Smoky non-combat pets are no longer Bind-on-Pickup.

Death Knight (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Chains of Ice: The ability now innately applies Frost Fever to a target.

Frost

• Icy Talons: The personal haste benefit provided by this talent is no longer exclusive with other sources of melee haste. This will allow death knights to always swing 4/6/12/16/20% faster when Frost Fever is applied. Windfury Totem and the party/raid component of Improved Icy Talons still do not stack.

Unholy

• Unholy Blight: In addition to its previous effects, this talent now also prevents diseases from being dispelled from victims afflicted by Unholy Blight.

Druid (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Nature's Grasp: Now has 3 charges, up from 1.

Balance

• Starfall: Te damage done by this spell has been significantly increased.
• Typhoon: Mana cost reduced to 25%, down from 32%.

Hunter (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Beast Mastery

• Ferocious Inspiration: This ability is now an aura and provides 1/2/3% damage to all party or raid members within 100 yards and boosts the damage of Steady Shot by 3/6/9%.

Rogue (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Subtlety

• Slaughter from the Shadows: Now adds 1/2/3/4/5% damage to all attacks and reduces the energy cost of Backstab and Ambush by 4/8/12/16/20, up from 3/6/9/12/15.
• Waylay: The debuff from this talent can now be caused by Backstab in addition to Ambush and can be triggered by all hits from these abilities rather than just critical strikes, but the snare component is now 50%, down from 70%.

 Warlock (Forums / Talent Calculator)

• Life Tap: This spell no longer scales with spirit, and instead scales with spell power.

Warrior (Forums / Talent Calculator)
Protection

Vitality: Now boosts Stamina by 3/6/9%, up from 2/4/6%. Strength and expertise benefits have not changed.